Order on Its Own: War
by TheNotoriousNovelist
Summary: Read The Lone Hero trilogy, Order on Its Own and Order on Its Own: Deceased Love, before reading this. AU: It's been 4 years and Dick and Zatanna are having trouble having a baby. But, that's the least of their problems when there's an alien invasion of seemingly unstoppable sentinels! Then, Zatanna gets teleported to another planet! Time to save the world - again. Pairing: Chalant
1. Prologue

**By the way, Kaldur goes by the alias Jackson Hyde (like in the comics). Barbara is married to Sam Young (her husband from the DCAU). Also, by this point, Barbara is in a wheelchair and is Oracle. And Tim has stopped being Robin and has become Black Hawk. I thought Red Robin sounded stupid.**

* * *

**Jobs:**

**Zatanna's a nurse at a children's ward in a hospital.**

**Dick's a response officer for the Gotham City Police Department.**

**Wally's a forensic investigator for the Central City Police Department's homicide division.**

**Artemis is a private trainer.**

**Conner's a reporter for the Daily Planet.**

**M'gann owns a bakery called Kent's Cakes.**

**Raquel is a children's writer.**

**Kaldur is a dolphin trainer at a marine park.**

**Barbara is a librarian.**

* * *

**Children:**

**Wally and Artemis - Jai (boy) and Irey (girl) West, 5-months-old, twins.**

**Kaldur and Raquel - Parker Hyde (boy), 14-months-old (1-year-2-months-old).**

**Conner and M'gann - Kurt Kent/K'rtt M'orzz/Kur-El (boy), 18-months-old (1-and-a-half-year-old). Trying for a second.**

**Dick and Zatanna - none (so far) but trying.**

**Barbara and Sam - one on the way.**

* * *

**Ages:**

**Zatanna, 24.**

**Dick, 24.**

**Wally, 26.**

**Artemis, 25.**

**Kaldur, 26.**

**Raquel, 25.**

**Conner, 26 (physically), 10 (chronologically).**

**M'gann, 26 (physically).**

**Barbara, 23.**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice.**

* * *

Order on Its Own: War

Prologue:

Dick and Zatanna sat on the bathroom floor, leaning against the bathtub, as they waited. They lolled their heads to look at each other.

"You ready?" she asked.

"I've got my fingers crossed," said her husband.

Zatanna took a breath and they looked at the pregnancy test. It mocked them with its negative result.

"Stupid thing," she said, tossing it in the bin.

She crossed her arms over her knees and hid her face in her knees. Dick put his arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder. Zatanna squeezed her eyes shut as tears began to well up.

"Don't worry, Zee," he said "It'll happen," and he kissed her forehead.

* * *

They walked down the stairs of their home and Zatanna slumped down on the sofa. Ace, their dog, came walking up to her and whined for his Mistress to cheer up. Zatanna patted his head and smiled at the German Shepherd.

"Don't worry, Ace, I'll be fine once there's a baby growing inside of me," she said.

Dick sat down beside her and pulled her into his arms. They snuggled up on the sofa with Ace jumping up onto their laps. Dick took the remote and switched on the TV. He turned it to GBS News and they decided to yell back at G. Gordon Godfrey. The news feed showed what looked like falling stars.

They were never more wrong about what they were...

**"This is Cat Grant, reporting live. What was thought to be a meteor shower is actually a group of alien ships. One has landed here, outside of Central City, and first contact is about to be made,"**

They watched as the president with most of the army for protection attempted to communicate with them. Their peaceful intentions were quashed when the alien ship seemed to mold from liquid metal into a 100 ft. high sentinel. It raised one foot and stepped forward before opening its hand and firing a beam of energy out. More sentinels crashed behind it but they seemed less intricate than the first.

"What... the... heck?" Dick said as he and his wife leaned forward.

All the landed sentinels began to attack and Nightwing and Lady Order were called in by the Justice League.


	2. Chapter 1

**Team Stats:**

**Tim Drake A.K.A Black Hawk, age 18.**

**Cassie Sandsmark A.K.A Wonder Girl, age 18.**

**Jaime Reyes A.K.A Blue Beetle, age 20.**

**Traci Thirteen A.K.A Madame 13, age 20.**

**Garfield Logan A.K.A Beast Boy, age 17.**

**Bart Allen/Jacobson A.K.A Kid Flash, age 17.**

**The Team agreed not to join the Justice League until they were all 18 (the qualification age) so they could all be inducted together.**

* * *

**Members Already in the League:  
**

**La'gaan A.K.A Lagoon Man, age 26.**

**Mal Duncan A.K.A Vox, age 26.**

**Karen Beecher-Duncan A.K.A Bumblebee, age 26.**

**Mal and Karen are married and have a daughter called Unis, who's 3-years-old, but they call her by her middle name, Matilda, Mattie for short.**

* * *

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 1:

_...A few months later..._

Zatanna hurried to get ready for work and by "work", she wasn't going to a children's ward like she's meant to. Since the war started, all nurses and doctors were deployed to treat injured soldiers. Dick was off, as Nightwing, trying to take one down before it could reach Gotham. None of the sentinels had reached a city yet but more were coming and less were being destroyed. Miss Martian and Martian Manhunter said they were a mechanical race called the Joining who destroyed planets for their technology.

As Zatanna walked out of the front door, she had _that feeling. _The feeling she developed from dating Dick. The feeling... that meant there was a Bat behind her._  
_

"Hello, Zatanna,"

She turned around to see Black Hawk sitting on her porch with Wonder Girl at his arm. Black Hawk's costume consisted of a black suit like Nightwing's except with a grey jagged V-shape line going from his shoulders across his chest.

"Hi, you guys, what're you doing on my porch?" Zatanna asked.

They jumped down to talk to her.

"Nightwing wanted us to check on you," said Black Hawk "If a sentinel reaches Gotham, your house could be the first to be destroyed, it is at the edge of the city,"

"Which is why I love it," said Zatanna "I gotta get to work, you two better go save the world,"

"We could use Lady Order's help," said Wonder Girl.

"Cassie... someone's gotta help the soldiers," she said and she got into her car.

* * *

Zatanna walked into the tent where Dr. Thompson was changing an injured man's arm bandages. Zatanna tied the apron around her waist and walked up to her.

"Nurse Grayson, there you are," said Leslie "I need you to finish changing this man's bandages while I attend to another injured soldier,"

Zatanna nodded and took over.

"I'm Private Arnold Richard," said the injured soldier.

"Richard? That's my husband's name," said Zatanna "I'm Nurse Zatanna, Zatanna Grayson,"

"I know who you are," said Private Richard "You used to be a member of the JLA until you had to fake your death,"

"Hmm," she murmured.

Zatanna wrapped the last of the bandage around his arm and folded it in on itself to end it. The ground shook and she went outside. A sentinel was coming their way. Zatanna ducked into hiding and put the Helmet of Order on to change into Lady Order.

* * *

The sentinel scanned the camp but its vision was blocked when Lady Order came flying up and punched it in the eye. The sentinel stumbled back before regaining its footing and reaching out to grab her. Lady Order flew out of reach and activated her comm-link.

"This is Lady Order, I need back-up at the Gotham City Army Medical Camp, there's a sentinel," she said.

**"Copy that, Lady Order, back-up is on the way," **said Oracle from the Watchtower.

"Alright, you alien robot freak, you're about to become scrap metal," she said before flying at it.

Lady Order punched the sentinel and the symbol of the Lords of Order radiated from her fist. The sentinel grabbed her in its fist and squeezed. Lady Order created a yellow force bubble around her. She curled up to support the bubble as pressure was added.

Just as she thought she couldn't hold up any longer, the sentinel released her. Before she could start flying again, Nightwing came swinging by on his grappling hook and caught Lady Order.

"Maneuver 8?" Nightwing asked his wife and she nodded.

As they swung upwards, he threw her up. Lady Order began to glow with yellow energy and shot into the sentinel's head. The robot started to fall and crashed into the ground.

Lady Order came to a landing and Nightwing appeared beside her. They panted in exhaustion as the army came to secure the sentinel.

"Is it just me or... was that easy?" Lady Order asked.

"Yeah... it was," said Nightwing "C'mon, let's have a closer look,"


	3. Chapter 2

**Wally's the Flash because Barry gave up to raise his kids, Don and Dawn, with Iris. Don and Dawn are about 4-years-old.**

* * *

**Q&A:**

**To the Guest reviewer of chapter 2...**

_**Wasn't Tim's new identity Red Robin? Just asking!**_

** Well, yes, but I decided to change it. Red Robin ain't that cool.**

* * *

**There are some Roman Numerals so here's 1-10 in Roman Numerals:**

**1 = I**

**2 = II**

**3 = III**

**4 = IV**

**5 = V**

**6 = VI**

**7 = VII**

**8 = IIX**

**9 = IX**

**10 = X**

**It's surprisingly simple once you figure it out.**

* * *

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 2:

Oracle rolled over to the sentinel head the League were studying. She tapped on her tablet and held it up to the alien robot head. The scan came back with unknown radiation readings.

"What is this thing made of?" Tigress asked.

"What ever it is, it's not on the known periodic table," said Flash.

"Neither is its power source," said Oracle "How's everything up there?!"

Beast Boy stuck his head out of the side of the sentinel head and looked down at her.

"There's nothing I understand in here," he said.

"Just alien tech," said Black Hawk, peering out of its eye.

Oracle put her hand on her stomach as she felt ever so slight movement, like a butterfly, in her. She may not have been showing but she was still 3 months pregnant.

"Don't worry, little guy, the world will be safe by the time you're born," she said, quietly to her child "So, you just grow into a healthy baby boy for Mama and Dada, okay Sam, Jr.?"

Lady Order went up to the head and gave it a knock. A piece of plating fell off and clanged on the floor. Inside was a blue glowing orb hooked up to the wires.

"What is that?" Lady Order asked.

"I don't know but it's giving off strange energy, less than other sentinels," said Oracle, rolling over "I think this is its power source and this one was easy to take down because its malfunctioning,"

The orb began sparking and everyone stumbled back.

"Get out of here!" Nightwing exclaimed.

Lady Order gave Oracle's wheelchair a boost to get her out of the way. She turned to run to Nightwing but the power source exploded.

Nightwing covered his eyes with one arm and held out the other for his wife. When the light dimmed, the orb was gone and so was Lady Order.

"Zatanna?" Nightwing said "Zee?"

* * *

Zatanna appeared at the top of a junk heap and went tumbling down. She landed on the bottom and looked up. All around there was junk piles and fires burned all around.

"Lavivrus raeg, won," she said.

Zatanna's nurse uniform turned into a pair of jeans, army boots, a hooded jacket, a t-shirt and a baseball cap with her hair in a ponytail. She got up and looked around.

"Where am I?" she wondered out loud.

There was the sound of machinery and Zatanna turned around to see a sentinel behind her. It scanned her and reached down to grab her. Before it could, a person completely covered from head to toe came flying out of no where with a sword appeared and sliced the sentinel's hand off.

"Inna, inna!" they said "Ickno alla trio!"

"What? What does that mean?" Zatanna asked.

"Ka!" the person screamed to the sky.

They grabbed Zatanna's hand and pulled her away. They ran through the junk piles as the sentinel chased them. The person pulled her down into a junk pile and they slid down a tunnel.

* * *

The person landed on their feet but Zatanna fell in a pile at the bottom of the tunnel. Zatanna got to her feet and grabbed the person's shoulder.

"Alright, who are you? Where am I?" she asked.

The person turned to her.

"Oono lada ibni. Jelt fee kanu delp. Fa leeloo gook dook tana," they said "Kayra," and she tapped her chest "Kayra,"

"Your name's Kayra? I'm Zatanna," said Zatanna, tapping over her heart "Zatanna,"

"Za-ta-nna," Kayra said, pointing at her.

"Yes," she said "Where are we?"

"Tapo, yana zoolop," said Kayra, gesturing down the tunnel.

"You know? I'm just gonna do a translation spell," said Zatanna "Etalsnart eht nwonknu egaugnal,"

"Come on, we've got to go!" said Kayra.

"Go where?" Zatanna asked.

"You are speaking Torranian all of a sudden," said Kayra "How?"

"I did a spell to translate," said Zatanna "Where am I?"

"You're on Torran VII, the Planet of Technology," said Kayra "Where are you from?"

"Earth," said Zatanna.

"Come on, my great-great-grandfather will know what to do," said Kayra "But, you must be careful, he's 130-years-old,"

Zatanna followed Kayra through the underground tunnels until they reached a large underground cavern. The people in there had either dark blue or light blue skin with a range of colours for hair and eyes and markings on their skin. Zatanna looked at Kayra, who took off the wrapping around her head. She had light blue skin, red eyes, light green hair held up with a clamp and brown spiral markings going up her neck and under her left eye. Zatanna looked around and gulped. What the heck was going on?

* * *

**Got any ideas for Torranian culture? Btw, the words Kayra said are gibberish. I have no translations.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I DO own Torrans 1 through 7 and its people and Kayra and other Torranians.**

* * *

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 3:

Kayra took Zatanna through the crowd of Torranians, who stared at her, and to an elderly man with a beard down to the floor. He sat by a fire with a black walking stick decorated with feathers and strings.

"Zatanna, this is my great-great-grandfather," said Kayra "His name is S'que Da'nah,"

"Hello, Zatanna," said S'que Da'nah, looking at her with milky white eyes "I am the leader of what is left of the Torran people,"

"What happened?" Zatanna asked, sitting across from him.

"It was 115 years ago," S'que Da'nah said, throwing some blue sand into the fire "Back on Torran I... I was 15-years-old... I never did trust those robots. It was us who created the Joining. I was the one who worked on the connected mind,"

"They got a 15-year-old to work on robots?" Zatanna asked.

"Yes, I was also the one to realize our mistake," said S'que Da'nah "I was still known as Da'nah back then..."

_Da'nah looked though the microscope at the robotic mind. It shouldn't be acting like that. It was aggressive and violent. This one cell of the membrane could destroy all of the positive outcome._

_"Olan'dee, come here,"_

_"What?" Olan'dee asked._

_"Check this out," said Da'nah "There's something wrong with the membrane,"_

_Olan'dee, head of the design lab, looked into the microscope and snorted._

_"Da'nah, there is 0.0000000022678531% chance of this happening," he said "You'll never earn the name S'que like this,"_

"I was a fool to listen to Olan'dee," said S'que Da'nah "The peacekeepers of our society turned on us and attacked... we deployed a net around Torren I's atmosphere and trapped the Joining there... For not reporting my findings, I was imprisoned for 10 years! Only the love of my life, my childhood friend, visited me... her name was Lilalo,"

_"Everybody has adjusted to life on Torran II well," said Lilalo, kneeling outside the cell "I've brought you some jimjaroo root, I know you like chewing it,"_

_Da'nah knelt on the other side of the cell bars and spat his current piece of jimjaroo root out and replaced it with the fresh one._

_"Thank you, Lilalo, you make my sentence bearable," he said, reaching out and cupping her cheek._

_Lilalo leaned into his touch and sighed._

_"They say the peacekeepers are trying to escape Torran I and come here," she said "I'm scared of what'll happen if they succeed,"_

_"Don't worry, my love, I'll always protect you. I designed them, I can defeat them,"_

"I was arrogant... I was released a few years later and Lilalo and I started a family, a son named Eo," S'que Da'nah continued "Then... the peacekeepers returned and Eo lost his mother..."

"Respect to those who no longer walk beside us," said Kayra "Eo became S'que Eo later on, he's my great-grandfather,"

"Eo died many years ago at the hands of the peacekeepers," said S'que Da'nah "My extended life is torture to one in my position,"

"You still got me, Da'nah," said Kayra "One day, I hope to become S'que'yah Kayra, that's the female version of S'que, it's my family's title of honour,"

Kayra reached into the wraps around her torso and pulled out a plug that was attached to the hilt of her sword. She pulled her wraps off to reveal a white dress with a yellow trim and no sleeves but the shoulders were pulled out. There was a small box on her back.

"You built the Joining and now they're attacking my planet, how do we destroy them?" Zatanna asked.

"You can't, they've destroyed hundreds of planets for technology and always come back to Torran VII to dump redundant tech," said S'que Da'nah "We are the last of the Torranians. So, what are you, Zatanna?"

"I'm a Homo Magi but my planet, Earth, have multiple sentient beings," she explained "Most of them are human, they have no special abilities or powers but I've seen what good they can do... unfortunately they can also do great evil. There are also meta-humans, what makes them different from humans is that they do have powers. We also have 2 Martians, the last Kryptonian and a human/Kryptonian clone hybrid,"

"Intriguing, what heroes do you have?" Kayra asked.

"We have many, human, meta-human and Homo Magi," said Zatanna "The greatest of our heroes form the Justice League of America and their protégés make up the Team,"

"Are you of this... Justice League of A-mer-ic-a?" S'que Da'nah asked.

"Yes, I go by the name Lady Order," said Zatanna "We hide our identities to protect the ones we love. The Justice League will defeat the Joining, we already defeated the Reach 5 years ago,"

* * *

Zatanna lay down in the dirt like the Torranians to go to sleep. She looked into the fire as she thought about her husband. They kept trying to have a baby but couldn't. When she miscarried 6 months ago, it broke their hearts.

_Zatanna's cries echoed around the house from the bathroom. Dick knocked on the door and put his ear to it._

_"Zatanna? Are you okay, love?" he called to her._

_Zatanna continued to sob so he rammed his shoulder against the door. Dick stumbled in and was met with a horrible sight. There was blood all of the floor and a small undeveloped mass in the middle of it. Zatanna was curled up by the toilet with her head in her hands. She looked up at him with bloodshot blue eyes and sniffed._

_"I-I miscarried," she stammered, looking at the small mass "I lost our child,"_

_Dick got on his knees and hugged her. Zatanna sobbed into his shoulder. They had been trying to have a baby for so long... she had become desperate._

_"It's okay, sweetie, we'll give you some time to recover and try again," Dick said._

_"What if I can't have children?" Zatanna sobbed._

_"Zee... miscarriages happen all the time to people who later have healthy children," her husband said "I'm sure we'll have a baby some day, just not today,"_

_Dick held her as she cried._


	5. Chapter 4

**Sorry for not updating lately. I was busy writing Zee of the Sea, go read!**

* * *

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 4:

Zatanna followed Kayra through the tunnels the next morning.

"Kayra? What happened to your parents?" she asked "I haven't seen them,"

"They died when I was a baby," Kayra said "Come on, we need to find some more power cells,"

Kayra pushed some machines out of the way to uncover a hole to the junkyard up top. They climbed through and came to the surface.

* * *

"So, what does a power cell look like?" Zatanna asked, climbing out of the tunnel.

Kayra threw a grey jewel to her.

"Like that except glowing blue. The brighter the blue, the more power it has," she explained "Come with me, I saw a bunch of them this way last week,"

Zatanna followed her across the junk piles as Kayra walked ahead of her.

"I had a brother once," she said "His name was Fero but he went missing a long time ago,"

"I have a cousin called Zachary," Zatanna said "And a husband called Dick Grayson. Then there's his adoptive family as my in-laws. My father, uh, he's not around but not because he's dead,"

"Do you have any offspring? Or are you not yet at child bearing age for Homo Magi yet?" Kayra asked.

"I'm 24-years-old, I've been of 'child bearing age' for years," said Zatanna "No, I don't have any kids, not yet. My husband and I are trying but I'm just one of those people who have trouble having kids,"

Kayra and Zatanna slid down a decline and the Torranian began digging through the machines. Zatanna saw what looked like a battery compartment and opened them up. Inside was a power cell that was blowing bright blue.

"That's a really good one," said Kayra, taking it out of the compartment.

Zatanna squinted as her corrective lenses spell wore off and she began needing glasses again. She murmured a spell under her breath and a pair of oval-lensed glasses appeared on her face.

The ground began to shudder and a sentinel walked around the corner. Kayra grabbed her sword and did something that made it blur like it was vibrating. Before anything could happen though, hands grabbed their ankles and pulled them down through the machines.

* * *

When they came to an underground cavern, Zatanna saw what looked like teenagers with light green skin, although one had dark green. There was one with dark green hair and orange eyes. He had black jagged patterns going up his arms and he held a torch.

"Becka, des ooloh ibstah," he said.

"Not again," Zatanna said "Kayra, my spell only translates your language, not theirs,"

"Kili feron rudnu. Pera beeoh quinset zalofra," said the dark-green skinned one, a girl with purple hair and lavender eyes "Cala pimosi dromidy,"

"Dipra cooffem Kayra dree Hunagi lapra," said Kayra "Keri doso?" [Translation: "My name is Kayra of the Hunagi tribe. Who are you?"]

"Pipalondeeniaclu'heracoldestra, jerka loon trucu Pip," said the boy, gesturing to himself "Zez oonifi galefrani, Yana," [Translation: "Pipalondeeniaclu'heracoldestra, you can call me Pip. This is my half-sister, Yana,"] and he gestured to the dark-green girl "Eono kistra dree Ranon lapra," [Teanslation: "We are of the Ranon tribe,"]

In irritation, Zatanna did a quick translation spell to understand them.

"Come, we will take you to our camp," said Pip "It is this way,"

"I would be happy to send a message to the Hunagi tribe to tell them you are here," offered Yana.

"Thank you," said Kayra.

The group led them down to an underground cavern with tents pitched.

"Pip, Yana, you're back and you bring a member of the Hunagi tribe with you," said a woman who looked to be in her 50s.

"We saved them from a sentinel," said Pip "Kayra, Zatanna, this is mine and Yana's mother, Tsuka'nih,"

"Respect to those of other cultures," said Kayra "Thank your children for our lives. We were looking for power cells when a sentinel appeared,"

Zatanna realized the Torranians seemed to use phrases concerning things. It was like when Earthans (people from Earth) used "please" and "thank you". She figured the phrase Kayra had just used meant they didn't agree on their cultural beliefs but respected their differences.

* * *

Tsuka'nih led them over to a tent and welcomed them in. Pip and Yana went off into different rooms and left Zatanna and Kayra with their mother. Tsuka'nih took a box out from under a cloth and put it on the table. They sat down around it and Tsuka'nih opened up the box. Inside was several pieces of root. She passed a piece to Zatanna.

"Eat this, it'll help," Tsuka'nih said.

"With what?" Zatanna asked, taking a bite.

"You know," said Tsuka'nih, putting the box aside.

Zatanna put her hand on her stomach and tears began to spill.

"It's been 2 years and I finally get pregnant but I get teleported to another planet!" she cried.

* * *

_...Earth..._

Dick lay in bed, trying to go to sleep to no avail. It just felt weird. For 5 years he would wrap his arms around Zatanna and she'd snuggle into him. Being alone in bed again felt strange.

"Where are you, Zatanna?" he said.

Dick got out of bed and headed down the hall to the bathroom to splash some cold water in his face. As he headed back to bed, he noticed the nursery door was open. He went inside and snapped on the light. There was white furniture from when Zatanna was pregnant 6 months ago but miscarried. What was odd was there was a bag in the bin despite the room not being used. He took it out and took out the contents. What fell in his hand was a used pregnancy test. Why would Zatanna hide this from him? Maybe to spare him the pain of not having a child? Dick looked at the result and he fell against the wall. It was positive. He looked into the bag and saw 2 more positive tests.

"Oh, Zatanna," Dick said, putting his head in his hands "Take care of our child,"


	6. Chapter 5

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 5:

Barbara rolled into her one-floor house she shared with her husband. Her husband, Sam Young, was sitting at the kitchen counter with a case file (after all he was the D.A). He looked up at her, walked over, leaned down and kissed her hello.

"How was work?" Sam asked, knowing full well Barbara was at the Watchtower and not at the library.

"Zatanna's missing, I'm going to look over the energy and find out where she teleported off to," said Barbara, holding her tablet.

"As long as our baby isn't in danger," said Sam, putting his hand over her stomach.

"I felt him kick every so slightly," she said, smiling.

"I don't care what my parents say about me marrying a parapligic, I love you and I can't wait for Sam, Jr. to come," her husband said.

"It could easily be a girl," said Barbara.

She wheeled away to a desk in the front room and turned on the secret second systems of her computer to be in sync with the Bat and JLA systems. She put her glasses on and began studying the energy readings. Sam put a bottle of pills on the desk.

"You gotta take them, Barb," he said.

"I know, I just wish I didn't have to," said Barbara, taking a pill out and taking the glass of water Sam held out to her "Anything for our baby,"

Since she was parapligic, she had some trouble with carrying a child so the pills made that easier. Barbara got back to looking over the energy readings when she saw a discrepancy. She ran some tests and simulations while Sam watched TV behind her.

Barbara came to a conclusion and leaned back in her wheelchair. She turned to her husband and he looked at her.

"Sam," she said "Can you give me a lift to the Grayson house?"

"Why?" Sam asked, turning off the TV.

"I know what's happened to Zatanna," said Barbara.

* * *

Dick was laying down on the sofa at the thought of Zatanna being missing and pregnant with their child. He ran his hand over his face as he turned off the TV to be in the dark. There was a knock on the door and whoever it was continuously rang the doorbell. Dick got up and answered it to see Barbara and Sam on his doorstep.

"Barbara? Sam? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I know what happened to Zatanna!" Barbara exclaimed, rolling passed him.

Sam shrugged at him as he walked in. Dick sighed as he closed the door and Barbara turned on the living room light. Dick walked to the archway and leaned against it to look at Barbara and Sam in his living room.

"What're you doing here?" he asked "I'm not in the mood,"

"I checked the energy readings and I think I found Zatanna," said Barbara, opening her laptop "There was a zeta energy signiture in the explosion. Lady Order obsorbed a large amount of it. From what I can tell, she was teleported across space. I checked the JLA systems," she pressed a button on the keyboard and it showed a snapshot of space "The energy came from a part of space rumoured to be the Joining's origins, Zatanna might be there,"

"On the Joining's homeworld?" Dick asked and Barbara nodded.

"There's a cluster of planets there NASA call the Witherspoon Galaxy," Barbara continued "Martian Manhunter says it's actually called the Xynon Galaxy, home of a species called the Torranians. Each planet it called Torran I to VII because the Joining supposedly destroyed each one. Zatanna could be on any one of them,"

"Are you sure of this?" Dick asked.

"100%" said Barbara, closing her laptop "The last of the Torranians are apparently on Torran VII so let's hope she's there with help,"

* * *

_...Torran..._

Zatanna ate more of the root Tsuka'nih had given her. It was like Torranian pregnancy pills.

"Joy for you and your family for the new life you bare," said Kayra, walking over to her.

"You know, on my planet, we just say congranulations," said Zatanna, putting her hand on her stomach "I hope I get back to Earth before I start showing,"

"Showing?" Kayra wondered.

"It just means I'll start looking like I'm pregnant, unlike now," she said.

"Come, S'que Da'nah wishes me to show you something of importance," said Kayra "It may help you,"

Zatanna got up and ate the last of the root as she followed her.

* * *

Kayra led Zatanna up a tower of junk. Zatanna looked down at the very far down ground. They got to the top and Kayra sat down easily while Zatanna clung for balance.

"Over there," said Kayra, pointing at another tower that glowed with technology "That's the menbrane of the Joining. Its what controls every robot. If you destroy it, you can save your planet,"

Zatanna looked at it and pulled her baseball cap further over her head. She looked back at Kayra who seemed to be in pain.

"Why hasn't it been destroyed already?" Zatanna asked.

"You think we haven't tried?! Countless of us have tried and all have failed. To add to it... that's where I lost my brother," said Kayra, wiping her eyes.

Zatanna looked at the tower and sighed. What was she meant to do? She couldn't storm the place all alone and, since she was carrying a child, her powers were unreliable. Zatanna pulled a crumpled picture out of her back pocket. She uncrumpled it and looked at the picture of herself and Dick on their honeymoon in Rome almost 5 years ago. In it, they were sitting at an outside café and were laughing together. Zatanna held it to her heart as she thought of the 3 pregnancy tests she had left in the nursery bin and she knew Dick must have found them by now.

"Don't you worry, my unborn child, I'll get us home," she said, putting her hand on her stomach.


	7. Chapter 6

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 6:

_An undercover Lady Order, posing as a maid, unlocked the hotel room of her target. She pushed her cart in and saw a man sitting at a table with a laptop._

_"House keeping," she said._

_"Yeah, yeah, whatever," the man said, waving her off._

_Lady Order reached into the towels and pulled out the rebreather. A knock out gas grenade rolled out from the cart and went off. Nightwing came out from the cart and stretched out._

_"That was so cramped," he said "Next time, you hide in the cart,"_

_Lady Order rubbed his back until it cracked and she turned from a maid to her uniform. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned her head over his shoulder._

_"But that's why we get into all the places," she said "You hide away and I'm the cutie that gets us in,"_

_"Can't deny you're a cutie," said Nightwing, pulling her around and holding her in his arms._

_"We agreed not to flirt when on mission," Lady Order said "Although," she lifted her helmet up just enough so she could kiss him "Let's get back to work," and she walked over to the nightstand to see if anything was inside._

_Nightwing watched her with a smirk before tying up the man and looking for evidence. Lady Order walked over to him and purposaly bumped into him on her way to check the bathroom. They looked at each other and both laughed._

Dick opened his eyes and sat up in bed. He looked around and didn't see Zatanna curled up beside him like normal. He fell back and hid his face in his hands. There was a knocking and Dick pulled himself out of bed.

* * *

Dick answered the door and saw a general and lieutenant at his doorstep.

"What... the... heck?" he wondered.

"Richard Grayson?" the general asked.

"Yes?"

"Due to the war with the Joining, the army are enlisting more soldiers," said the general "I am General Wade Eiling and you are as of now no longer Officer Grayson but rather Private Grayson. Report to the Gotham City Training Camp at 10-hundred hours today, do you understand?"

"Y-Yes?" Dick stammered.

"Lieutenant Oscers, show this Private how we talk to our superiors," said General Eiling.

"Sir, yes, sir!" said Lieutenant Oscers.

* * *

Dick closed the door and walked into his living room. He sat on the sofa and looked over at a picture of Zatanna sitting on a beach towel during their honeymoon in Italy. She looked beautiful in a brown one-piece with a red-and-indigo scarf wrapped around her waist like a skirt. On her head was some circular sunglasses and her flipflops were kicked off by her feet. Dick picked up the picture frame and opened it. On the back, Dick had written:

_Rome, 5th of July 2021, best day at the beach ever!_

He ran his fingers across the picture of his wife's face and nearly cried. He needed to have her in his arms again and tell her he loved her with all his heart. Dick leaned back on the sofa and picked up his phone to call Wayne Manor and tell everyone he'd been enlisted. He glanced at the clock and figured Bruce would be at work by then. He hung up the phone and dialed Wayne Tower. As he waited to be patched through to his adoptive father, he thought of that day at the beach.

_Zatanna flicked her hair after Dick snapped a picture of her on the beach. She laughed as Dick sat down beside her and took a picture of them both. Zatanna got to her feet and pulled her round sunglasses out of her hair and undid the scarf around her waist._

_"C'mon, let's go swimming," she said "I'll race you to the water!"_

_She began running down the beach and Dick got to his feet and ran after her, pulling off the unbuttoned shirt he wore. They went splashing into the waves and Zatanna squealed from both the cold and the joy of it. She put her hands in the water and looked to see if anyone was watching._

_"Hsalps ym dnabsuh," she said._

_A small wave formed and crashed down on Dick. Dick laughed as Zatanna ran over to him. She reached down to give him a hand up but he pulled her down into the water. They both laughed as Zatanna lifted herself up and found herself looking down at her husband. Dick gave his wife a kiss before splashing her and she ran further into the ocean as they continued to splash one another._

There was a beep and Bruce's voice came through the phone.

**"Hello? Dick?"**

"Bruce, uh, hey, I'm just calling t-to tell you," Dick stammered "I've been enlisted into the army,"

* * *

**I just love the honeymoon flashback! What can I say? I'm a romantic ;)**


	8. Chapter 7

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 7:

_Zatanna shrieked as Dick picked her up and jumped into the hotel pool. She splashed him with the water and he laughed. Dick pulled her underwater and they held their breath. He began tickling her and Zatanna had to surface so she could laugh. _

_"Dick! You know I just wanted to sit by the pool and read," she said._

_"You can do that when we're home and not in Italy," he said "C'mon, I'll make it up to you with a milkshake,"_

_"You better," Zatanna said, pulling herself out of the pool._

_She hooked her arm with his and rested her head on his shoulder. Dick loved the fact she was his wife. She was so beautiful in his eyes. Zatanna pulled him towards the milkshake bar and sat him down beside her._

_"We can go to the beach if you want," Dick offered "Apparently there's a quiet one. It takes a small trek but it's worth it,"_

_"Okay," she said, taking a sip of her milkshake "A small hike sounds pretty good and with the reward of a quiet beach to lounge around on, superb. Hey? Can we play *bocce?"_

_"We don't have a kit, Zee," he reminded her._

_"Dickie-bird, we're in Rome! The home of bocce! We can find a shop that sells it anywhere," Zatanna said, grabbing his arm "C'mon!" and she pulled him from his seat._

Zatanna hid as she used a scanning device Kayra had given her on the Joining's membrane. She knew how to use it but she didn't know what the readings meant since they were in Huna (the Hunagi tribe's language) instead of English. She ducked down as a sentinel came round during patrol. Zatanna scrambled back down and dug through the junk pile until she hit the tunnel. She stuck her head out and passed the scanner to Kayra.

"The scanner is still not picking up the force-field frequencies," said Kayra and she began typing on it "Here, try it now,"

Zatanna took it and crawled back out to the surface. She took a scan before crawling back down.

"What about now?" she asked, passing the scanner to Kayra again.

Kayra checked the readings and stared in disbelief. It had been decades since the Joining took over and they had finally found the frequency for the membrane's force-field. Zatanna climbed out of the junk pile and tumbled onto the floor.

* * *

_...Earth..._

Dick looked at the picture of Zatanna while sitting on his army cot. The picture was from that day on the beach during their honeymoon. Zatanna had her round sunglasses on her head, the scarf wrapped around her waist but her feet were still bare. She was waving to the camera as she bent down to throw the ball for bocce.

"Who's that hottie? Your sister? Cousin?" said the guy in the cot behind him.

"My wife," said Dick.

"She looks familiar," he said.

"That's because she's Zatanna the Mistress of Magic, a former superhero from the Justice League of America," said Dick "Who are you anyway?"

"I'm Woodford Crocker but you can call me Woody," he said "Got forced into the army? Me too,"

"Got someone waiting for you?" Dick asked.

"Just my stepfather and step-stepmother," said Woody "My mom got remarried when my dad died then my stepfather got remarried when my mom died,"

"My biological parents are dead too," said Dick "I was adopted when I was 9,"

Dick looked at the picture of his wife again and sighed. He missed her so much and was determined to get her back... somehow.

_Zatanna collected the balls after beating Dick at bocce for the 9th time. She smiled as she dropped the bag and sat down on the towel. The Sun was beginning to set._

_"We should leave before dark," she said, checking she had everything in her bag._

_"Zee, I had an ulterior motive to bring you here," said Dick, sitting beside her "Just watch the sky,"_

_They lay down on the blanket and Zatanna snuggled into him as night fell. After a few minutes, something shot across the sky. Dick smiled as his wife marvelled at the meteor shower. Zatanna leaned up and looked at her husband with a smile. She leaned down and kissed him. Dick wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her onto him. They pulled away and Zatanna curled up on him and looked to the stars._

_"I love you," they said in unison and laughed together._

_Zatanna shivered and Dick wrapped a blanket around her to keep her warm. She eventually fell asleep watching the meteor shower and Dick had to carry her back to the hotel where she slept soundly until the morning._

* * *

***Bocce is an Italian ball game similar to bowls.**


	9. Chapter 8

**You may have noticed I've changed this story's name to Order on Its Own: War. If you didn't notice then... I've changed the name to Order on Its Own: War!**

* * *

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 8:

_...Torran..._

Zatanna lay down with her hand on her stomach. She was taking this opportunity to take in the fact she was pregnant. She was wondering if it was a boy or a girl and what to name it.

"Robyn Sindella Grayson, Mary Sindella Grayson, Sindella Mary Grayson," Zatanna said to herself "Robin Giovanni Grayson, Richard Grayson, Jr., Giovanni John Grayson... What to name my baby?"

She sat up and looked around at the tribe of Torranians. They were struggling to survive. Her baby was not going to be born here. She had to get home to Dick soon. Zatanna rubbed her temples and thought about her and her husband's song. It was _Determinate _by Lemonade Mouth because they sang it together during a Team karaoke night when they first started dating. She murmured some lyrics and got to her feet.

Zatanna walked over to Kayra, who was "charging" her sword. Kayra looked up at her.

"Let's destroy the membrane," Zatanna said, her hands on her hips "But, I want to find a way home first,"

"The Joining know pretty much everything in the universe so we should be able to find you a way home soon," said Kayra "We're going to need an arsenal to take them on,"

"Leave that... to me," said Zatanna, gesturing to herself.

With a snap of her fingers, Kayra's hyper-sword (as it was apparently called) was charged with magical energy. A pile of some sort of lazer guns were restored to their former glory.

"How did you do that?" Kayra asked, looking at her hyper-sword as it vibrated blue rather than brown/orange.

"Magic," Zatanna said.

* * *

_...Earth..._

Barbara was still trying to find a way to reach Torran. She had overloaded her personal computers with calculations so she had moved to the Watchtower computer. There were several holo-screens around her with calculations barely anyone understood. Barbara yawned and was about ready to collapse but she had to find her best friend.

"Barbara, you need to rest," Black Hawk said, walking over to her.

Barbara looked up at him and yawned.

"Torran VII is so far away," she stretched her arms above her head "it's taking a lot to find a way to reach it,"

"Oracle, you've been up for 17 hours, get some sleep," Black Hawk said "If not for you then for Sam, Jr.,"

"Using the health of my unborn child to get me to sleep, smart," Barbara yawned before rolling off towards the zeta-tubes "I'm off, don't touch my calculations,"

Black Hawk watched her leave before taking off his mask and looking out the window at outter space. Cassie came walking over to him and kissed his cheek hello.

"What's wrong?" she asked, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Everything," he said "The world's being invaded, my brother's wife is missing and I'm not sure if I want to go to college or law school,"

Cassie playfully messed up his hair and Tim struggled from it like he always did.

"It'll work out, Timmy," she said, smiling at him "We'll save the world, Dick will get Zatanna back and you'll figure out what kind of future you want,"

Tim looked back out the window.

"Whatever my future is... I want you in it," he said.

Cassie smiled at him and hugged him. Tim loved her, he really did.

* * *

Dick was laying in his army cot, trying to sleep. He hadn't slept a wink since he found out his wife was pregnant. He rolled over and closed his eyes to try to sleep. Just go to the Otherworld... see Zatanna...

_"Zatanna? You here?" he called into the whiteness._

_Dick began to walk along as he looked around for his dearest wife. He began running and the whiteness turned to greyness and then to blackness. He came to a steady stop and looked around at the blackness. There was an explosion in front of him and millions of stars were thrown across the void. Dick looked around at the universe around him and saw dozens of galaxies floating around him._

_Everything suddenly rushed past him and he saw a planet silhouetted by the shining Sun behind it. He was suddenly falling into darkness as if he was sinking to the bottom of the ocean._

_Dick landed with a thud on a hard floor. He got to his feet and a spotlight turned on to show Zatanna, curled up, on the floor with her back to him._

_"Zatanna?!" he shouted and began running to her._

* * *

_...Torran..._

Zatanna was asleep the night before the attack on the membrane. Her body was on Torran but her mind was in the Otherworld...

_ Zatanna was curled up in a field of flowers with her eyes closed. The wind gently blew her hair so it floated. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up. Dick! Zatanna smiled, jumped to her feet and threw her arms around him. Dick and Zatanna held each other with their eyes shut and tears about to spill. He held her shoulders as she leaned her forehead against his chest and he kissed the top of her head._

_"Oh... Dick... my love..." she cried "I've been... been so lonely... with-without you..."_

_"There's been a hole in my heart since you disappeared..." he said._

_They pulled back as Zatanna's tears spilled and Dick leaned his forehead against hers. They opened their eyes and looked at each other with intense love. Dick suddenly put his arms around her waist and his hand went on her side with his palm on her stomach._

_"You know?" Zatanna said._

_"Yes... I found the pregnancy tests in the nursery," Dick said, pulling her into his arms "I can't wait for our little boy or girl to arrive,"_

_"I'm already 5 weeks along. I didn't want to get your hopes up if I miscarried again. Since I'm past the first month mark, I'm confident I could carry this one to term," she said, putting her hands on her stomach "I already have some ideas for names,"_

_"Like?" her husband asked._

_Zatanna pulled Dick to the flowery ground and they sat together. They lay back against the grassy hill and she curled up beside him._

_"For a boy, Richard Grayson, Jr. and, for a girl, Sindella Grayson," she said "Either that... or... Rob[i/y]n Grayson,"_

_"Richard Grayson, Jr.? But, I'm named after my uncle so _I'm_ Richard Grayson, Jr. and our son would be Richard Grayson III," Dick said with a chuckle._

_"Yeah, but, we could nickname him R.J for short," Zatanna said, looking up at him "What about Sindella Grayson?"_

_"It's a beautiful name... Sindella Maria Giovanna Zatanna Grayson," Dick said "Giovanna for your father and Maria is the Italian version of my mother's name,"_

_"It's length and the repeated final 'a' sound makes it sound Italian," she said and they relaxed against each other._

* * *

**Sorry for not updating sooner, I had writers block.**


	10. Chapter 9

**I had the idea of the child being born on Torran and travelling back in time to get Zatanna back to Earth sooner but I scrapped the idea so the baby's gender and name could be more of a surprise! Although, I might return to this some other time...**

* * *

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 9:

_The flowers were so beautiful in the meadow. Dick picked a red aster with yellow-tipped petals and wove it into Zatanna's hair. She smiled at him and hugged her husband._

_"You're my Princess... my Princess of Prestidigitation," he said, holding her in his arms._

_Zatanna curled up on his lap with her arms around his neck and the scenery changed so they were on a grassy dune by the ocean. Dick leaned back against his elbow with her in his arms and they looked out to sea together._

_"My dear Zatanna... you're like a rose," he said to her "You're gentle, sweet and beautiful... but, if I'm not careful, I'll get pricked by your thorns," he kissed the top of her head "It's the perfect metaphor to describe you, my love,"_

_Zatanna looked up at him and placed her lips against his. They fell back as the sea breeze picked up to ruffle their black hair and they pulled away. Zatanna's black hair fell over her shoulders like a curtain on either side of Dick's head and she sat up to be straddling him. Dick leaned up on his elbows and cupped her cheek in his hand. She took hold of his wrist and leaned into his touch._

_They looked at each other but Dick began to fade. The two began to panic and Zatanna threw her arms around him with tears in her eyes. Dick completely disappeared and she was alone, kneeling, in the grassy field. She looked around, put her face in her hands and cried._

Dick opened his eyes and sat up in his army cot. He looked around to see everyone else still asleep so he got up and walked outside for some air.

* * *

Dick was standing outside, facing his and Zatanna's home in Gotham. He had the picture of her on their honeymoon in his hand. There were some footsteps and General Eiling walked up to him.

"Homesick, Private Grayson?" he asked.

"I miss my wife, sir," Dick said and he looked down at the picture of his wife.

"I do too," said General Eiling "And my kids, got any kids, Private?"

Dick clenched his fists until his knuckles were white.

"My wife and I are expecting our first," he said "My wife wants to name it after me if it's a boy, Richard Grayson, Jr.,"

"Really? You'd think Lady Order would come up with a more magical sounding name," said General Eiling.

Dick looked at him with shock. How did General Eiling know?

"I'm high-up enough in the U.S government to have access to the Justice League files, including yours," he said.

"Oh, really? What does it say?" Dick asked, trying ease the tension to get information out of him.

"Name: Richard John Grayson II. Date-of-birth: December 1st, 2000. Spouse: Zatanna Grayson née Zatara. Codename: Nightwing, the Dark Prince of Blüdhaven, previously Robin the Boy Wonder. Current Residence: 24, Willow's Avenue, Gotham City-" General Eiling recited like a robot.

"A'right, I get it," Dick said "If you know I'm Nightwing, why did you enroll me?"

"Your acrobatic prowess and technical knowledge will help us with this war," said the General "You have the potential to be a great soldier,"

General Eiling left him to his thoughts and Dick reflected on his life. His time at Haly's International Travelling Circus, being adopted by the Batman, becoming Robin, getting together with Zatanna, becoming Nightwing... he had had an eventful life. And he wouldn't change a thing about it.

Dick closed his eyes and thought of Zatanna. He thought of the first nightmare she had once they were married and living together.

_"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"_

_Dick opened his eyes and saw Zatanna hunched over and sobbing. He sat up and pulled her into his arms. He began comfortingly rubbing her arm and shushing her until her sobs were whimpers._

_"It's okay, love, you're okay," Dick said, stroking her hair and laying down with her in his arms "What's wrong?"_

_"I-I had a nightmare... it was the other timeline with Magic Mistress and Renegade... I know I only remember it as if it all was a dream but, when I'm asleep, a dream is like reality," Zatanna sobbed._

_Dick sat up, got out of bed and walked around to her side. He reached out his hand and he pulled her out of bed._

XxX

_ Zatanna sat with her legs crossed on the sofa in the living room. Dick put a blanket around her shoulders and passed her a mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream and bunny-shaped marshmallows (she found the bunny ones adorable). Zatanna sipped at the drink and Dick looked at her as she did._

_"Feel better?" he asked her._

_She nodded and smiled at him. Just then, their German Shepherd puppy lazily came over and whimpered to be picked up. Dick picked the puppy up and began scratching him behind his ears._

_"We still need to name the dog," Zatanna pointed out "How 'bout... Junior? Buddy? Pudge because he's so pudgey?"_

_Dick looked around at their living room and looked at the stack of cards on the coffee table. At the top of the deck was the ace of spades._

_"How about... Ace," he said "Ace the Bat-hound,"_

_Zatanna sat back and thought about it. She liked it. That night, Ace was named._

Dick took a deep breath of that icy cold Gotham air before heading back to his tent.

* * *

_...Torran..._

Zatanna opened her eyes and looked around at her surroundings. She stretched her arms above her head and put her hand on her stomach. She got up and cracked her back from her uncomfortable night sleep. Since coming to Torran, Zatanna's glasses had become cracked, her hoodie was ripped but her baseball cap was still intact. Kayra appeared in front of her and passed her a metal cup with a red liquid and blue lumps inside.

"Drink it. It will help your child to withstand the trauma of attacking the membrane," Kayra said "It is going to be rough,"

"You're people are very considerate of my unborn child," Zatanna said "Thank you,"

Kayra nodded.

"Torranians are going extinct because procreation has halted from... less than suitable conditions but S'que Da'nah won't tell me what that means," she said "It is time to prepare for the attack,"

Zatanna watched them all preparing hyper-swords and other weapons. She put her hands on her stomach to connect with her baby.

_"C'mon, little bird, let me turn to Lady Order and we'll be able to go home to daddy, okay? You want to go home to Daddy, right? Then let's work together," _she thought to her child.

Zatanna clenched her fists and closed her eyes. Normally, transforming to Lady Order was instinct but now she had to concentrate and try to remember how to do it. The oddest thing happened to her. In her mind, she heard a soft voice speak to her and she saw a vision of sapphire eyes like Dick's along side an Italian complexion like her own with raven-black hair.

_"Don't worry, Mommy, we'll see Daddy soon,"_

Zatanna opened her eyes and golden light consumed her. Kayra stared at her and Zatanna checked her costume. What was unusual was, on top of her navy unitard, was a golden sleeveless dress with a miniskirt and golden armour plating and her boots were flat rather than high-heeled. She thought about it and realized the dress gave protection to her stomach and the heels could have tripped her up.

_"Trying to stay safe, little one?" _she thought to her child and could have sworn she heard a small laugh similar to Dick's cackle.


	11. Chapter 10

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 10:

_...Torran..._

Lady Order, along with Kayra, headed towards the membrane. They ran across the junk piles of Torran VII and Lady Order began thinking of Dick. She had to return to him so they could all be a family together. Kayra was dressed the way she was when Lady Order first met her. There was a black scarf wrapped around her head, she wore a black tunic with the long-sleeves tied around her lower arms, black leggings that were tied around her lower legs, black gloves and shoes. Lady Order couldn't help but think she looked like a ninja in that outfit.

They came to a stop and ducked for cover as a sentinel walked around the membrane. There was an explosion on the other side caused by the Hunagi tribe and all the patrolling sentinels went towards it. Lady Order followed Kayra as she ran towards the force-field. Kayra put a device on the force-field and pressed some buttons to match the force-field frequency. The electric field disappeared to create a big enough gap for Lady Order and Kayra to get through.

Once they were through, the device short-circeted and the gap closed. If they succeeded in destroying the Joining then the force-field would deactivate so they better not fail. No one had ever gotten into the membrane and survived so they didn't know what to expect.

* * *

_...Earth..._

Barbara studied the Joining in hopes of reaching Torran to communicate with Zatanna. She knew Zatanna and Dick's magical telepathic communication thing (or 'Otherworld' as they called it) still worked over the long distance. She looked at the Joining head that had teleported Zatanna away and fiddled with the part of the head that connected all the Joining. Signals were sent to Torran then bounced across the universe to every Joining sentinel in existence.

Beulah (A.K.A Black Magic, Klarion the Witch Boy's sister) came walking in and saw Barbara about to fall out of her wheelchair. She quickly ran over and pulled Barbara back.

"Hey! I was about to access the networking systems on this thing!" Barbara complained.

"You were about to fall over," Beulah said "Take it easy, Oracle,"

"Everyone keeps telling me that," she said with a huff "I'm a pregnant paraplegic, I'm not helpless,"

Beulah sighed and her familiar, an owl called Honey, landed on her shoulder. They looked at each other and Beulah heard Honey's thoughts as the owl hooted.

"Fine, you win, Honey," Beulah said "Barbara, let me do the climbing while you tell me what to do,"

Barbara told her what to do and Beulah climbed inside a shaft to reach the networking thing. There was a cube that looked like liquid metal attached to some kind of wiring attaching it to the walls of the chamber. Beulah grabbed it and pulled it out. She climbed back out and gave it to Barbara.

"Thanks, Beulah, now I just need to find how this works," she said and rolled away to the computer.

After a few scans, it was discovered the networking system was compatible with the bio-ship. After further tests, Barbara figured out how to use it to communicate with Torran VII.

* * *

_...Torran..._

The corridors in the membrane were huge since a sentinel needed to be able to get through it. The walls were smooth black metal made of a material nonexistent on Earth but Kayra called it "geraglonite". Kayra activated her hyper-sword so it vibrated and emitted a blue/white glow so they could see in the darkness. S'que Da'nah said the central nervous system of the membrane was at the very top as well as an access system so they could find a way for Lady Order to return home. They came to a dead end but found knicks in the wall they could climb up. Not wanting to wait, Lady Order grabbed Kayra's wrists and lifted her up into the air. Kayra struggled slightly, discovering she was aerophobic, and screwed her red eyes shut.

They came to the next floor and Lady Order put her on the floor. There was a whistling wind coming from this new narrower corridor that no sentinel could possibly fit in. Lady Order created a sphere of golden light around her hand and held it up to see where they were going. They began walking down the corridor and the wind became stronger. Kayra stopped and pulled her scarf from around her head to feel the breeze. Torranians actually prefered colder environments like Martians but the Joining had turned Torran VII into a cesspool of burning pollution. Kayra's light green hair started to lighten and Lady Order was surprised to see it turn white!

"Kayra, your hair! It's white!" she said to her urgently.

Kayra grabbed the ends of her hair and shrugged it off.

"That's what happens when Torranians are cold, it's for camouflage in arctic climates," she said.

Her eyes then turned from red to milky-white/blue and her brown markings turned pearly-white. Lady Order had just realized Torranians were an arctic species when Kayra walked ahead of her.

As they continued, Kayra's breath began to appear like fog from the cold. Had it not been from her helmet, Lady Order's would have too. The cold was becoming unbearable to her but Kayra seemed happy with it.

* * *

_...Earth..._

M'gann (now the new Martian Manhunter) had interfaced the networking system from the sentinel and into the bio-ship. She opened up a holo-screen and tried to telepathically use the networking system to contact Torran VII. Barbara and Beulah were waiting anxiously for a result.

M'gann was actually scared of the Joining from bedtime stories her twelve sisters and seventeen brothers used to tell her. They weren't the same "robots that hide under your bed" creatures but she was still scared. It was her fear that was preventing her from fully accessing the Joining's networking systems and contacting Torran VII. M'gann took a deep breath and thought of when her one White Martian brother explained the stories weren't true. Relaxing, she fully interfaced the systems and established a connection to Torran.

"You'll only have a few seconds, audio only," she said, opening her glowing green eyes.

* * *

_...Torran..._

Kayra and Lady Order found themselves in a corridor with wires running along the walls, ceilings and floor. The wires were glowing pink with electric pulses going through them. Kayra's hyper-sword was vibrating at odd frequencies and she was concerned it was broken. It seemed to be something about the electric fields in the air. Lady Order and Kayra managed to gain access to the systems of the membrane and found a message with a Justice League passcode.

**"Za-an-a... th-s... s... bara... pl-ese... res-ond..."**


	12. Chapter 11

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 11:

_ Zatanna rested her head against Dick's shoulder as they watched Wolf Children (an anime film she loved but found sad). Dick was looking nervous about something, she could tell. She put her hands on his shoulder and rested her head on them._

_"What's wrong, love? You're acting like when you picked me up for our first date," she said._

_"Uh... well... it's just..." Dick stammered "Zatanna? I was wondering... we're both 22 and we've both finished school so... I was wondering... if..."_

_"Let me stop you there," said Zatanna "I want to ask you something,"_

_"What? Anything for you," he said._

_"I want to start trying for a baby," she said "You think it's a good time to start?"_

_Dick looked at her before breaking out into hysterical laughter. Zatanna found herself blushing from his reaction, took a sofa pillow and hit him with it. He continued to laugh so she continued to hit him. Dick fell onto his back as his wife climbed on his and kept hitting him with a pillow. He put his arms up in defense and began hiccuping from his laughter._

_"Okay, okay, Zee, that's enough," he said._

_He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her on top of him. Zatanna still seemed annoyed so he kissed her._

_"Why'd you laugh? I want to start a family with you," she asked when he stopped._

_"Zee... I was going to ask _you_ if you wanted to start a family," Dick laughed "That's why I was so nervous,"_

_Zatanna stared at him and began laughing herself. She lay down beside him and they cuddled up together. With her eyes closed and a smile on her face, she kissed his cheek and wrapped her arms around his torso._

_"Yes..." Zatanna said "Let's start a family together,"_

_Dick smiled and held her close. They'd completely forgotten the anime playing on the T.V as they both began thinking of being parents. Zatanna rested her head on Dick's shoulder and seemed to fall asleep snuggled up to him on the sofa. Dick listened to her gentle snores that he found so cute and kissed her forehead. He loved her so much and he wouldn't want anyone else to have his child._

Dick sat in the jeep as he, Woody and other new recruits were driven out to the sight of a sentinel being dismantled. There were two things in his mind, A) his wife was on the other side of the galaxy while pregnant, and B) the government had files on the Justice League. He was hating this war with the Joining more and more.

"Hey, Grayson? You zoned out, dude," Woody said, waving his hand in front of his face.

Dick knocked his hand away and looked at him.

"I'm fine," he said "Just thinking about my wife,"

Strange, the sentinel they were heading to was the one he and Lady Order had taken down. Obviously, it was missing its head which the JLA took possession of for study. The thought this thing could have killed Zatanna before he even knew they were having a baby came to him and he hated the Joining that much more. The jeep stopped and the recruits got out. They lined up and listened as General Eiling told them not to fire at any superheroes as they were the only ones who have successfully brought sentinels down.

* * *

Barbara and Beulah were joined by Traci in excitingly waiting for a response from Zatanna in the bio-ship. M'gann hadn't disconnected from her ship since they sent the message. She looked up, her eyes glowing green, and a scrambled audio appeared on the holo-screen.

**"This... is... Lady... Order... trying... take down... Joining... help from... Kayra... in... Joining... membrane," **and the message cut out.

"Did she say Kira or Kara?" Traci asked "And what's a membrane?"

"It's the inside of the brain," said Barbara "Trying to take down the Joining's membrane?"

"Sounds like she's trying to destroy them," said Beulah "Or make them brain dead, at the least,"

They would have tried to send a message back but M'gann passed out and the bio-ship wasn't calibrated for any of them.

* * *

_...Torran..._

"I do not think we will be getting any help from your friends, Lady Order," said Kayra.

Lady Order sighed and they continued from the access port they had found. They headed on their way and began squeezing through a shaft. It was a squeeze and Lady Order feared for her child from being pressed against something so blunt and narrow. She took a breath and carefully maneuvered upwards. Kayra found it effortless and, as they got higher up, her white features returned to their usual state.

"You okay?" she called down to Lady Order.

Lady Order looked up at her and worriedly put her hand on her stomach as she panted.

"I'm fine. I'm just trying to keep my baby from harms way," she called back up.

Lady Order sat on one of the ledges and caught her breath. The entire shaft began moving and fell onto its side. Lady Order curled up to protect her unborn child as they were thrown about. She panted in fear for her offspring and her motherly instincts kicked in. She began looking about for Kayra and saw her light blue arm hanging over a ledge in the shaft.

"Kayra? You okay?" Lady Order called to her.

Kayra groaned and sat up, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I'm good," she grumbled "Are you?"

"Yeah," Lady Order responded "Stay still. I'm going to cast an intangibility spell,"

She released a golden light and all the ledges and blocks seemed to fade out of existence. She crawled over to Kayra and they continued on their way.

"The membrane must have reconfigured itself," Kayra said "I suspected it did this,"

* * *

At the top of the membrane, in a dark room, a red egg-like thing cracked open and a... being... of sorts... opened its glowing red eyes. It climbed from inside the pod, just wearing a loincloth, and fell to its hands and knees. Putting one hand on a table, it pulled itself to its feet and pulled a dark red robe on to cover itself. The darkness that covered its skin melted away to leave it... _him_... with light grey skin like a dead body's. He looked around as he panted for breath and walked forward. The glow of his red eyes dimmed so only his irises were red and he fell to his knees. A floor panel slid away and a robotic arm reached out with a black metal band. The boy was about to stumble back but the robot arm attached the black band to his arm. His eyes dimmed to ebony-blackness and his face dropped to convey no emotion.


	13. Chapter 12

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 12:

Kayra and Lady Order crawled out into a large stadium-like room. The door on the other side slid open and a... being... of sorts... walked into the room before the door closed behind it. Lady Order noted the black metal suit it was in and its right eye was black plating with a red lense. It walked out of the shadows to reveal a large portion of him to be some kind of red plating with darker red light glowing within it. As he moved, there was a robotic noise.

"Who the heck is that?" Lady Order asked "He looks like a Borg drone but less cyborg-y,"

"What's a 'Borg'?" Kayra asked.

The Borg-like boy stopped in the middle of the room and gasped slightly at the sight of Kayra. His programming kicked in and he became emotionless once more. Kayra stood in front of Lady Order and kept her hyper-sword raised as they walked around the edge of the arena. The boy kept turning to look at them and narrowed his eyes at them.

**Scan complete...**

**Torranian, Hunagi...**

**Scan complete...**

**Earthen, Homo Magi...**

**One adult, one not fully developed, conclusion: adult one bares young...**

"Who the heck are you?" Lady Order shouted at him.

He cricked his neck before staring at them.

**"I ****am,"** he spoke in a robotic voice **"The Joining,"**

"What does that mean?" Kayra asked him as they reached the door out of there.

**"Torranian female of the Hunagi tribe, name: Kayra, risk level: 78, conclusion: termination," **he said **"Earthen female of the Homo Magi species, bares young, risk level: 49, conclusion: termination,"**

The fact the kid knew she was pregnant was creepy enough but, really, assessing their 'risk level' was especially freaky. The boy lifted his arm and lazar came out. It fired a red ray of energy that hit Kayra's hyper-sword. Her sword seemed to absorb the attack and the hyper-sword seemed to vibrate even faster.

"Zatanna... get out of here... I'll deal with this _Borg_, as you called it," she said "Go!"

Lady Order refused to leave her behind but felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as if her child was telling her to go. Borg Boy held his hand out, a floor panel opened and a bo staff came out from the floor. He grabbed it and took a fighting stance. Kayra ran at him and her hyper-sword and his staff crossed. Lady Order fired her orderly energy at Kayra and it super-charged her hyper-sword. As she remained still to give Kayra an edge over the cyborg, she began to feel pain in her lower abdomen. She collapsed to the ground and curled up with sweat running down her forehead.

_"Stop it, Momma, our powers are linked so you're draining my power as well as your own. Don't worry, it'll be okay just don't use our powers too much,"_

Hearing the small voice in her head, Lady Order got to her feet and removed her helmet but obtained her uniform. The helmet disappeared before it could hit the ground and Zatanna began crying. Maybe it was hormones or maybe it was just the weight of the situation but, either way, she was crying. She didn't sob, the tears just slid down her face and fell to the black metal floor.

Borg Boy continued to fight Kayra. Kayra, though a strong fighter, couldn't compare to a machine. Borg Boy didn't try to fire another lazar since he learned her hyper-sword could absorb the energy. Kayra swung her hyper-sword at his face and he was thrown back. Borg Boy put his hand to his face and the plating around his eye fell off. Kayra leaned against the hilt of her sword as she panted for breath.

"Zatanna! Go!" she shouted.

Zatanna got to her feet, murmured an apology to her unborn child and ran out. Vents opened up and mist began to fill the room. The temperature dropped and Kayra's eyes, hair and markings turned different shades of white. From the mist, Borg Boy appeared and she stared at him. Without the eye plating, he looked remarkably like...

"Fero?" she said in disbelief.

He raised his bo staff and attacked...

* * *

Zatanna ran through the corridors with no idea of where to go. All she knew was she needed to go up but didn't know how to do that. Tears were still falling from her eyes but they flew past her as she ran. In desperation to keep the magic between her and her baby even, she reverted back to the hoodie, glasses, baseball cap combo she had been wearing.

Zatanna came to a dead end and collapsed against the wall. She was done. Once she was back on Earth, she was done being Lady Order. She'd retire from the Justice League and only act as a superhero when magic became a factor. She'd still be a Lord of Order and be an authority figure in the magic underground. As soon as she was home, she'd go on maternity leave and become a mother to her child instead of a superhero.

Zatanna fell to her knees and curled up to protect her child. She smiled at the thought of wearing a t-shirt with the phrase "Child on Board" until she began showing. Dick would probably buy her one as a joke. Dick... He was her true love and her want to have a child had put him through hell. Zatanna had only become so desperate because it was taking longer than expected to get pregnant...

_ Their hands were clasped together as they waited for the doctor to arrive. Zatanna was terrified of what he'd say. Dick was terrified it was his fault they weren't already parents. The miscarriage was hard on them both but she was completely horrified by it._

_"Mr. and Mrs. Grayson? I'm Dr. Rockford," the doctor said as he entered._

_"Hello, Doctor," said Dick "So, is everything okay? We really want to have a child,"_

_Dr. Rockford looked at a baby blue file and shuffled some papers around._

_"Mr. Grayson, despite past injuries, you still have working reproductive organs and you have the average amount of sperm for a 24-year-old man," the Doctor said and the couple were relieved "However," their faces dropped "Mrs. Grayson, you seemed to have suffered trauma to your abdomen in your youth. It has damaged your ability to carry a child to term. There is a chance you can still get pregnant but it could take a while,"_

_Zatanna looked down at her abdomen and tears formed in her eyes. It was her fault. Dick wrapped his arms around her as she let out a wail and held her close._

XxX

_ On the car journey back from the doctor's office, Zatanna was silent. When they got home, she sat by the window and watched the rain pour down against the glass. Dick came and sat with her. The rest of that day, Zatanna was silent. She ate dinner without a word, took a shower without singing and went to bed without reading out loud. Dick looked at her as she lay with her back to him._

_"Dick... do you still love me?" she asked._

_Dick was completely shocked! He sat up, pulled Zatanna into his arms and looked at her dead in the eyes. She looked genuinely scared he didn't love her and he seemed hurt she could ever think such a thing._

_"Zatanna... I love you more than life itself! Dr. Rockford said it would be _hard_ for us to have kids, not impossible. Even if it was impossible, I'd love you until the day the world ended and after that," Dick said, holding her to him "You're the love of my life and my purpose in life is to love you. I know, someday, you are going to be a wonderful mother whether we have a baby or adopt one,"_

_Zatanna wrapped her arms around him and cried into his shoulder until his t-shirt was thick with tears. She fell asleep in his arms and her gentle snores assured him she was going to be okay. Dick lay back in bed with his wife in his arms and soon fell asleep too._


	14. Chapter 13

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 13:

Fero pinned Kayra down and pushed his bo staff against her neck. Kayra struggled but his robotic strength was too great.

"Fero... stop... It's me..." she choked out "you're... sister..."

Fero's look of hatred melted away and he thought of his sister. She would share her rashions with him and take care of him. He was a year younger than her so they were pretty much babies at the same time. Their father had died before Fero was born and their mother died in childbirth so it was only ever the two of them.

"Kay...ra," he stammered, pulling his staff away from her neck.

"Yes! I'm Kayra! Your big sister!" Kayra exclaimed.

Fero looked at himself and ripped the metal bands from around his arms. A large portion of his lower right arm was gone and replaced with a red glass-like material that had several lights of dark red. The same kind of plating was delicately placed in his fingers and a black robotic finger replaced his pinky and ring finger. He put his hand to his face and felt robotics under his skin and his eyes turned red like Kayra's usually were but turned milky-white/blue from the cold.

"Fero?" Kayra said, gently.

Fero's skin turned blue and his black hair turned from light green to white. He ripped at the cybernetic implants with tears running down his face. He was left wearing a torn bodysuit. Kayra got to her feet and stood in front of him. Fero looked up at her, jumped up and hugged her. Kayra hugged her baby brother and comforted him as he cried from his experience.

"Kayra... It's all a trap... The Joining... its going to destroy that woman," Fero said "Her life's in danger,"

Kayra looked in the direction Zatanna had run and she pulled her brother along as she ran after the Magician.

* * *

Zatanna wiped her eyes and got to her feet. She was about to get moving when the walls, floor and ceiling began to close in on her. She curled up tight with her arms around her abdomen and the space began to get smaller around her.

"Please... for my child's sake... let me survive," Zatanna cried.

The enclosing space opened up and she looked to see Borg Boy with a wire plugged into the wall. Kayra was with him and Borg Boy seemed to look more Torranian with a percentage of his cybernetics ripped away.

"Zatanna, are you okay?" Kayra asked and she nodded "Oh, the Borg turned out to be my long lost brother, Fero,"

Zatanna got to her feet and walked over to them. She was stiff from curling up and she cracked her back.

"Fero? I thought you said he was dead?" she asked.

"No, I said he was missing," said Kayra "Now, c'mon, we need to shut this place down!"

They began running along the dark tunnels and Fero led the way.

_ Zatanna sat in the bathtub with the bubbles up to her chin and her hair pinned up. She sighed and got out with her violet robe pulled around her. She got dressed in her novelty Nightwing t-shirt and black pyjama bottoms. Zatanna opened the cupboard and took both the pregnancy tests out with the one she took a few days ago. She fell to her knees as she looked at the results. All three Clear Blue tests said the same thing:_

**_Possitive_**

**_2-3 weeks along_**

_She couldn't believe it. She was pregnant. What if this one was a miscarriage like before? Zatanna couldn't put Dick through that again... she decided to keep it a secret from him until she was past month one. It wasn't going to be easy. She hated keeping important things from him and what's more important than their child?_

* * *

_...Earth..._

Barbara sat by the window of her home and watched the fires as the sentinels neared Gotham City. Sam walked in and got on his knees beside her. He reached over and put his hand over her stomach. They looked at each other before Barbara looked over at the Gold Medal in the trophy case. She had been an Olympic gymnast during the 2020 Olympic Games when she was 19 but had retired to be with Sam. While fighting crime as Batgirl, Joker shot her in the spine and she was put in a wheelchair when she was 21. Barbara looked at him with appreciation and smiled. Sam was 5 years older than her and was currently 28-years-old. She leaned over the armrests and hugged her husband.

"I was thinking, for Sam, Jr., let's call him Sammy," Barbara said.

"Why are we do convinced it's a boy? There is a 50% chance of a little girl," Sam said "If it's a girl, we could call her Samantha and still call our child Sam, Jr.,"

Barbara laughed, finding the idea ridiculous. Everything fell quiet when the ground shook and a sentinel appeared at the edge of Gotham City. They looked at each other and Sam saw how the red fire illuminated Barbara's face.

"Sam... I'm scared," she admitted.

Barbara Gordon-Young... scared? Impossible! She was the most fearless person Sam had ever met. He shook his head and reassuringly kissed her on the lips.

"Don't worry," he said "It'll be okay. Let's just pack overnight bags and head for the underground incase that sentinel gets any closer,"

Barbara quickly wheeled over to a wedding photo and took it off the wall. They put some food, sentimental items and a change of clothes each in a backpack. They wouldn't be able to get the wheelchair into the underground so Barbara put the backpack on and climbed onto Sam's back.

* * *

The streets were filled with people running to the subway and other underground areas. Sam ran through the streets with Barbara clinging to him. They would have gone to the Batcave but it was on the other side of Gotham. Sam ran down the stairs to the subway and checked in with the soldiers there to protect the citizens. There were babies crying and all the Gothamites found a spot to wait it out. Sam lay a blanket out for Barbara to sit on and they stood their wedding photo up in front of them to remind them of home. Barbara rested her head on Sam's shoulder and relaxed when someone walked up to them.

"Barbara Gordon? I haven't seen you in forever!" it was Bette Kane, an old classmate of hers "Oh, I suppose it's Mrs. Barbara..."

"Gordon-Young," said Barbara "This is my husband, Sam, and this," she put her hand on her stomach "is Sam, Jr.,"

"You're pregnant?! Congratulations!" Bette said, kneeling down beside them "I have my own little boy, Tyson, he's 5. I had him when I was 21 with my husband, Hunter, but me and Ty-Ty's father are separated now, pending divorce,"

"Divorce? Oh, I'm so sorry, Bette, I hope everything works out for you," Barbara said.

"Yeah... Hey, do you know whatever happened to that cute genius kid in our class? What was his name... uh... Dick! Dick Grayson! That's it," Bette asked "Bruce Wayne's ward,"

"Dick's married now to Zatanna, his girlfriend for 4 years, and, now, they're having a child together," Barbara said "I was the Maid of Honour at their wedding and Zatanna was the Maid of Honour at mine,"

"Oh! So, _that's_ who that was! I didn't think she went to Gotham Academy," Bette said "Well, I'm going to try and find my parents," and she left.

Barbara and Sam looked at each other after the encounter but they threw their arms around each other when the tunnel shook from the sentinel getting closer.


	15. Chapter 14

**I've been watching H2O: Just Add Water and I just want to say...**

**CHARLOTTE... IS... A... DOUCHE-BAG!**

* * *

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 14:

_...Torran..._

Zatanna and Kayra followed Fero up a black spiral staircase and up a hole in the ceiling. The room was completely empty and pitch black except from a spotlight shining on a podium. They all looked at each other and Fero explained that was the access station. Zatanna walked up to it and put her hands on the sides. It was like a touchscreen. She tapped it and a dark blue mist came out of the floor. She didn't get how you're meant to use it but Fero stepped up and began typing at the odd buttons. The dark blue mist showed a blueprint of the membrane and a dot flashed in a room.

"Says here there's a zeta energy reactor that could be altered into a makeshift zeta-tube. If we can set coordinates for Earth, it should zap you home, Zatanna," said Fero "If we set the membrane to be destroyed first, we'll have 5 minutes to get there and make the modifications,"

Zatanna thought about it. 5 minutes didn't seem long enough to get everything done. She rubbed her temples and crouched down. What to do? Even if they didn't try to get back to Earth, they wouldn't be able to get out before the explosion.

"Zatanna?" Kayra said "What should we do?"

Zatanna's shoulders shook as she cried. She normally would give up her life to save the world but... What about her child? She had heard her child talk to her but... was it really her child? Or was she going crazy? Zatanna's mother, Sindella, had told her she had heard Zatanna talking to her. It was some kind of astral connection that transcends time and space no one understood.

_"Momma? This is hard... I know... You should destroy the membrane or no one will survive. I would have liked to have been born and meet Daddy but... saving the world is in my DNA! You need to save the world... even if it costs us our lives," _she heard the little voice say with sadness and regret _"But, first, you should see me..."_

Zatanna's vision was filled with light and she saw the future. Tears ran down her face and she looked forward into space...

_A child, about 4-years-old, was walking away and into the fog. He/she wore black shorts, a red hoodie with black sleeves and their hood was up. The child stopped and turned around to face its mother. They pulled their hood down to reveal who they were and Zatanna gasped. The shape of the face... the length of the eyelashes... the length of the hair... The gender of her child could only be-_

"Zatanna?!" Kayra exclaimed, shaking her shoulder "What should we do?"

Zatanna put her hand over her stomach and took a deep breath.

"One way, we die without question. The other, there's a chance of survival," she said "Let's get out of here!"

* * *

_...Earth..._

Dick watched in horror as the sentinel destroyed part of Gotham. He was hanging onto the side of an army truck. The fiery destruction mirrored off his sapphire eyes and gave the sentinel a menacing silhouette.

"Oh... crap," he said "I'm so glad you're not here to see this, Zee,"

Woody leaned out and handed Dick a firearm to be aimed at the sentinel. He hated guns but, being in the army, didn't have much to say against it.

* * *

Barbara curled up to Sam as the tunnel shook. Chunks of the ceiling were falling and Sam was ready to run for it.

"Hey, you guys,"

They looked to see Tim standing by them with Cassie with him. The two must have been together downtown to be taken to the subway. There was another shake and Cassie and Tim held onto each other. There was a cracking sound and the tunnel began collapsing.

"Everyone! Huddle together!" Cassie shouted.

No one had time to question her and the people in that end of the tunnel banded together. Cassie flew up and supported the ceiling on her shoulders. Everything was pitch black. Tim took out a flashlight keychain and shone the blue light around.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked "No one hurt?"

Cassie came down from the ceiling and landed beside Tim. The dome was unstable and too risky to move the stones. Everyone was disgruntled and scared but were otherwise unharmed. Barbara was taking deep breaths out of the fear the situation would cause a miscarriage. As far as they could tell, no one had realized Cassie could both fly and had super-strength.

"How long can we last down here?" Sam asked.

They moved out of the way to see a vent behind them.

"At least we have air," Barbara said "We need more light,"

Everyone else with a flashlight keychain turned it on and shone them around. They all sat down and waited. That's all they could do. Wait. And hope they were rescued soon.

* * *

**I know, I'm a tease for not revealing what gender the baby is! All shall be revealed in the epilogue but that's not for a few chapters :)**

**Please review!**


	16. Chapter 15

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 15:

_...Torran..._

The zeta energy reactor was a metal tube with a glass window that showed yellow light flying around it. Kayra used her hyper-sword to open it up and Fero began messing with wires. The entire membrane was shaking as it overloaded and fires broke out.

Zatanna continued to think of the image in her head. Her child. Raven-black, sapphire blue eyes like its daddy's and an Italian complexion like its mommy's. The red-and-black of the child's outfit reminded her of Dick's old Robin costume. Richard Grayson, Jr. and Sindella Maria Giovanna Zatanna Grayson were good names but Zatanna remembered that day in the tree on the mountain. They were going to destroy Klarion and she saw the robin in the snow. That was when she thought of the perfect name for her baby: Rob[i/y]n Grayson.

"Zatanna! The membrane's about to collapse!" Fero shouted.

Zatanna looked around and stepped forward to enter the makeshift zeta-tube when she realized. There was no way Kayra and Fero could get out of the membrane before it was destroyed. There was no way they could survive.

"You guys. How are you gonna escape?" Zatanna asked them.

Fero and Kayra looked at each other.

"We're not," Kayra said "I'm willing to die to destroy the Joining,"

"I'm too far gone with my cybernetics to be reversed," said Fero "Now, go!" and he kicked her into the zeta-tube.

Zatanna landed on her back in the zeta-tube and the yellow energy shot around her. Kayra and Fero looked at each other and hugged each other. It was the first hug they both had had in years. The yellow light of the zeta-tube suddenly escaped the capsule and the entire room was consumed.

* * *

_...Earth..._

With the sentinel down, Dick was sent to recover anyone trapped in the rubble. He was partnered off with Woody, who he had taken to calling Crocker.

"This is just... I can't describe it," said Crocker.

"How do you think I feel? One of my friends lives in this area," said Dick "I hope Barbara's okay,"

They were walking by a grate to the subway venting system when they heard voices. They stopped and Dick lifted the grate up.

"Hello?" Crocker called "Is someone there?"

"Yes!" came a voice "The tunnel collapsed! We're all trapped!"

Both Dick and Crocker had heard a tunnel had collapsed but had no idea there were survivors.

"Get us outta here! I'm feeling claustrophobic," a girl complained.

Wait a minute... Dick knew that complaining tone.

"Cassie?" he called.

"Yeah?"

"It's me! Dick! Is Tim down there too?" Dick called.

"S'up, big brother?" came Tim's voice "Barbara and Sam are here too. The dome we're all in is unstable. It's going to collapse any second and we can't escape! This opening of the vent is too small to crawl through,"

Dick bit his lip and thought about it. What to do? If Zatanna was there, she would have shrunk them all down so they could escape through the vent.

"Crocker, go get help. We don't have long!" Dick said "To add to the situation, Barbara's actually pregnant and paraplegic so she _really_ needs help,"

Crocker went off running for help. Dick looked down into the dark old vent and became worried for his friends and family. He could only hope that everything was going to be fine. For everyone.

* * *

Bruce sat in the Batcave with his wife and 2-year-old daughter. Selina held Helena in her arms and looked at her husband as he did something at the Bat-computer. She nearly had a heart attack when she found out Dick was drafted into the army.

"Momma?" Helena said "Is Dada okay?"

Bruce heard the worry in her voice and he got up. He walked over to them and took Helena in his arms.

"Don't worry, Lena, it'll be okay," he said "I'm just worried for your brothers, that's all,"

Helena nodded with a pouty face and hugged her plush black cat called Moonlight. She reached out to her mother and Selina took her into her arms. She began bouncing her daughter in a repetitive motion to lull her to sleep. When Helena was lightly snoring, Selina tucked her up in a blanket and she curled up in a chair. She was so scared for her daughter and adopted sons. To add to it, her daughter-in-law was missing while pregnant with her grandchild! She was tempted to slip into her Catwoman suit and go out searching.

"Everything will be fine, Selina," Bruce said to his wife.

They had been married for 3 years already and they both adored Helena. They were determined to let her live her childhood and obtain her innocence in a way that was stolen from them. One of Selina's cats walked over to the chair Helena was asleep in. This cat was old and particularly close to Helena. Its name was Pops. Pops jumped onto the chair and curled up beside Helena. She put her arm around the old grey cat and curled up herself.

* * *

As much as he hated it, Dick was ordered by General Eiling to leave the rescue op to Crocker and to report to a weird energy. That's how Dick got himself at the front line of a possible attack. He was sitting in the driver's seat of the jeep while General Eiling stood up to look at the yellow light through binoculars.

"You know, Private Grayson, you're a fine rooky. You could be a great soldier. After this, I'm taking a platoon to Afghanistan. I could use a man like you, consider it," General Eiling said.

Dick looked at him with shock in his eyes. A chance to be a real soldier and not forced to enroll one? No! He was going to be with Zatanna and their child! Regrettably, he found the offer tempting.

Dick looked at the light as it began to die down and his heart stopped at the sight of who it was. After a few moments, reports of sentinels shutting down across the globe came in. Disobeying orders, Dick got out of the jeep and ran to the new arrival.

"Zatanna?!" he exclaimed.

She looked up and smiled with tears in her eyes. She ran to him and jumped into his arms. Dick hugged her close and was about to cry himself.

"Dickie-bird!" Zatanna exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him "I'm pregnant,"

"I already know, love, and I can't wait," he said, holding her close and then he opened his eyes "Zee, who are they?"

Zatanna leaned back and looked at where he was staring. Fero and Kayra?! On Earth?! Kayra stood up first and helped Fero to his feet. He was sparking in several places from his cybernetics malfunctioning.

"Pekara roo deh cah nah eoli farno, Fero?" Kayra said.

"Decapri, Kayra, leeon ref queh," said Fero, messing with something behind his ears "Activating intergalactic translator," he said but his voice sounded broken like a scratched CD "Zatanna, where are we? Why is it so cold?"

"You're on Earth, my homeworld," Zatanna said "I guess, because Torran VII is so polluted, you find my planet cold,"

Both Fero and Kayra had turned to their 'arctic state'. Fero took one of his translators out and clipped it to Kayra's ear. With it, she could understand but not speak all languages known to the Joining.

* * *

Dick briefed them all on the collapsed tunnel situation on the way back to Gotham. Zatanna was determined to save all of them but didn't know how without her powers. Kayra and Fero were confused by the jeep and General Eiling's imposing demeanor.

The time was 4 a.m. and, because it was morning, Zatanna was experiencing morning sickness for the first time. Her head spun and she fell over. Crocker was quick to tip supplies for those trapped out of a bucket and passed it to Zatanna. She puked into it and Dick rubbed her back in comfort. Weirdest thing, Zatanna's vomit was blue and pink from eating Torranian food for the past few days.

"You okay, love?" Dick asked her as she lifted her head.

"I'm... fine... just... queezey," she murmured and wiped her mouth with the cuff of her ratty hoodie.

Tears began to form and she threw her arms around him. Dick comfortingly rubbed her back and she wiped her eyes. She had had mood swings before but this was the first time she had let Dick see them.


	17. Chapter 16

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 16:

To say Kayra was confused was an understatement. She didn't understand Earth but she tried her best. People were staring at her and Fero because they were blue with white hair, eyes and markings. Dick was showing them a blueprint of the ventilation system in hope of finding a way to save the trapped Gothamites. From what Kayra could tell, the vent on the other side was too small for them to escape through. Dick estimated how big the vent was on the other end with his hands and Kayra figured she could fit through it.

"[I could squeeze through that]" Kayra said in her native tongue.

"What did she say?" Dick asked Fero.

"She said she could fit through the vent. It's true, Torranians are very flexible and she probably can," Fero said "I can't because of my cybernetics malfunctioning," and his knee sparked.

Took some convincing for General Eiling to agree but it was decided.

* * *

Kayra slid down the vent and landed on her feet. She looked up at the light before getting on her front and army crawling through the vent. The air was cold but, being on a cold planet in her opinion, it was absolutely freezing. Kayra pulled the head scarf back around her head and continued on her way. She had an army radio with her to stay in contact with those on the surface. The vent became that much smaller and Kayra seemed to get even thinner as if she was made of sticks. Up ahead was some blue light and she reached the vent cover.

"[Hello? Is anyone there?]" she said.

"What was that?" someone said.

"I'm not sure," said another "Hello? Is someone there?"

Kayra pushed the vent cover off and crawled out. Everyone was surprised to see a ninja arrive.

"Tim Drake?" she said with the difficulty of someone not speaking their first language "Tim Drake?"

"That's me," Tim said, standing up "Who are you?"

"[This is for you]" Kayra said and gave him the army radio.

"Uh, hello?" Tim said into it.

**"Tim? This is Dick. The girl with you is Kayra, she's from Torran VII and Zatanna's back," **Dick's voice came through the radio.

"That's awesome," Tim said "Got any idea on how to get us out of here?"

**"Working on it," **Dick said **"You're just lucky their's an alien who can fit through tight spaces. Kayra, it's time to come back,"**

Kayra was about to crawl back into the vent when the dome began to collapse. Everyone huddled together in an instant and Kayra leapt back to protect a child from a falling stone. To her surprise, the rock didn't hit her but a shield of ice that had formed from her arm. Everyone began to squeeze together and Kayra lifted her arms out to form a layer of ice around them.

She was shocked at her new ability since Torranians don't have specific powers like Martians for example. She began to tire and pulled her scarf off from around her head to cool down. Kayra's cryokinetic effort was taking more of a toll and she pulled her black jacket off to reveal the light brown tunic she wore underneath.

"Uh, do Torranians have powers?" Tim asked into the radio.

**"No," **came Zatanna's voice **"Why?"**

"Because," said Cassie, grabbing the radio from her boyfriend "The dome's collapsing and Kayra's using cryokinesis and she's turning invisible!"

Kayra felt herself getting weaker and she closed her eyes. She thought of the last time she was on Torran VII, when they were all zeta'd to Earth. She felt herself floating into the air and a surge of power be released from within her.

* * *

Zatanna was experiencing morning sickness again and Dick was holding her hair back. Fero was waiting for his sister to come back in anticipation. He had only just gotten her back, he wasn't about to lose her again. There was a flash of light like a zeta-tube emitted and all the trapped Gothamites fell to the ground. Kayra was unconscious and her markings had turned yellow.

"Kayra?!" Fero exclaimed.

He ran to her side, fell to his knees and shoke her shoulders. Her eyes were open ever so slightly and she would have come off as dead had it not been for the steady rise and fall of her chest.

"Is she okay?" Fero asked as Zatanna and Dick came to their aid.

Dick hovered his phone (that was set on scanner mode) over Kayra and picked up strong traces of zeta radiation. He scanned Fero and found Fero's cybernetics protected him from the same fate.

"We need to get her to the Watchtower for help," said Dick, picking her up off the ground "Let's hope Torranian physiology is easy to figure out,"

"You have no idea," Fero murmured.

* * *

Everyone was ecstatic to see Zatanna again and to congratulate her. Kayra was taken to the med-lab and a scan of her physiology revealed it was going to be very hard to figure her out. Her bones seemed to be two halves slotted together to make one and her muscle mass seemed to be able to compact itself. Her organs were a compete mystery. Did she gave two hearts? What was that extra organ interconnecting two lines of digestive tract? What was sure was that she was filled with zeta radiation. While zeta-beams were safe for Earthan species' (plus Martians, Kryptonians and whatever the heck Icon was), it wasn't safe for Torranians without major modifications.

Fero was refusing to leave Kayra's side so he sat there while Batman tried to fix an implant in his arm. The cybernetics were so complicated, one wrong move would paralyze Fero's arm and part of his shoulder. There was a spark and Fero gained full mobility in his left arm. He had changed from the raggedy bodysuit and into some black trousers and black short-sleeved t-shirt. You could see the full extent of his cybernetics on his arms now. He had a robotic right wrist, a large chunk of cybernetics replacing the inner muscle of his right arm, robotic left elbow and his fingers had tiny cybernetics implanted in them as well as some replacing the bends in his fingers. The cybernetics were red glass-like material with darker red light glowing within them.

"Is Kayra going to be okay?" Fero asked, worried for his sister.

Batman didn't know how to respond. He had no idea what was happening to Kayra since her biology was so complex and they had nothing to go by.


	18. Chapter 17

Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 17:

Zatanna was so relieved to have a hot shower, change of clothes and a warm meal. She sat in the kitchen and chomped down chocolate chip cookies M'gann had made in her bakery: Kent's Cakes. She had such a craving for sugary things that she was eating faster than a speedster. Dick was watching her with amusement as she finished a plate of cookies.

"How about, on our way home, we go buy a box of a dozen bakery treats for you to wolf down?" he offered.

Zatanna leaned back in her chair and patted her stomach in satisfaction. She nodded at him and sighed. She couldn't get that image of her child out of her head.

"Dick... I've changed my mind on what to name our child," Zatanna said and she explained about how she had heard and seen their unborn baby "So... I want to name our baby... Rob[i/y]n Grayson,"

"Rob[i/y]n Grayson, eh? We did say that's what we would call our firstborn when we were destroying Klarion the Witch Boy," Dick said "I like it! We're going to have our own baby bird in a few months,"

Zatanna leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed with relief. She was so glad to be home.

"I'm going to quit the Justice League but I'll help the JLA out if Doctor Fate and Madame 13 aren't enough to deal with a magical problem," she said.

"I support you through thick and thin," Dick said "Uh, Zee, I was offered the chance to serve my country in Afghanistan,"

Zatanna looked at him and noticed the regret in his eyes from bringing it up. She cupped his face and kissed his cheek.

"I support you through thick and thin, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health," she said "If you want to take it, take it but I want you to think about it. You'd be in another country, fighting, for an unknown amount of time. You might not even be here for the birth of our child. Think about it... you're already fighting for the planet as a member of the Justice League,"

Dick wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to him. Their peace was ruined by Batman sending them an alert that Kayra was conscious.

* * *

Kayra was so confused by her surroundings but Fero was explaining while she reactivated some vital cybernetics for him. His skin was turned back to grey, his hair returned to black and his eyes returned to red. Kayra, with a scalpel, cut his skin at his temple to access the cybernetics of his right eye. She took some tools Batman had left behind and she began reconnecting sensors so Fero was no longer colour blind in that eye.

"[There you go, baby brother]" Kayra said "[Can you see properly?]"

"Yes, thank you," Fero said "Uh... Kayra? What's going to happen to us?"

"We'll be fine, Fero," said his sister "We'll just need to get used to life on Earth,"

Fero was still confused and rubbed his arms. Zatanna and Dick entered and Dick offered to bandage Fero's head from the cut. Fero had a cotton pad taped over the cut with a bandage around his head.

"You know, you guys are gonna need a place to stay," said Zatanna "You can stay with us if you want,"

"Zatanna?" Dick said "We should talk about this,"

"It'll be fine, Dickie-bird, we'll just say they're my distant cousins from Italy who's parents have passed away," she said "It'll be fine,"

Dick knew he wouldn't be able to argue with his wife and he didn't really want to. He looked over at the Torranians. They didn't look human but a Glamour Charm could fix that and Fero just had to wear certain clothes to hide his cybernetics.

* * *

The Glamour Charms gave them both an Italian complexion and turned their eyes a matching brown. Kayra's hair turned blonde and Fero's hair remained black. Their excuse for the intergalactic translators on their ears was they were hearing aids because they had suffered from the disease that had diminished their hearing. As far as the world knew, the two were Italian immigrants called Kira and Theo Torani.

Zatanna and Dick entered their house that was still standing despite the war except the sentinel attack had shaken things. Ace had been taken to Wayne Manor when Dick was drafted so he was safe.

"Think you guys can help us clear up?" Dick asked "Kira? Theo? You live here now,"

Theo helped Dick lift up a bookcase and Kira helped Zatanna clear up glass from fallen picture frames. Zatanna bent down and picked up a shard of glass only for it to cut her finger.

"Ouch," she hissed, holding her finger.

Dick was at her side in an instant and he took a plaster out of his pocket. He put it around her finger and smiled at her. They gazed into each other's eyes but Zatanna broke off by handing him a broom. Dick cackled and began brushing leaves that had blown in through the broken living room window as well as other debris onto a tarp Kira had laid out to put stuff to be thrown out. The food in the fridge had all gone off so was thrown out as well.

By the end of the day, the house was cleared out of broken things and they just had to replace them. The backyard shed had collapsed so they needed to clear that up but they were also taking the chance to make the house... baby proof.

* * *

** Next up is the epilogue and then that's the end. I'll be referring to Kayra and Fero as Kira and Theo from now on unless there's a specific reason.**

**In the epilogue, I'll be revealing Zatanna and Dick's firstborn child! I've been waiting for the perfect moment to reveal him/her! It was suppose to be the epilogue of Order on Its Own but then I continued on to Order on Its Own: Deceased Love. I was going to have her/him in the epilogue of OoIO:DL but then I did this!**

**For those who don't know, Kayra is about 14 and Fero is about 13 but no one's sure because they didn't keep track very well.**

**Please review!**


	19. Epilogue

Order on Its Own: War

Epilogue:

_...8 months later..._

Zatanna sat in the hospital bed with a bundle in her arms. It had taken a lot, she had nearly died in the C-section, but, now, she was a mother. Dick entered the room in a hurry for the first time since the C-section. Zatanna's unused magical energy and the baby's magical energy was having trouble separating from each other so a natural birth was impossible. Dick sat beside her and she leaned into him with their child in her arms.

"Beautiful, just like you," he said as they admired their newborn.

"With your eyes," Zatanna said.

The baby reached out and took hold of a lock of Zatanna's hair. The new parents awed at the cute little action and Zatanna slid her hair out of her child's grip. It had taken 3 years but they finally had a child. Their moment's peace ended when their friends and family entered. They all awed and coo'd at the chubby little baby face. Helena wanted to climb on the bed and see the baby so Bruce sat the 3-year-old at the foot of the bed. Zatanna carefully tipped the newborn to see its adoptive aunt and Helena squealed at the baby face.

"He's... she's... adorable," said M'gann, putting her hands over her baby-bump "Hope ours is as cute, Conner,"

"So, do we have a grandson or a granddaughter?" Selina asked.

Dick and Zatanna looked at each other and smiled down at their child.

"A girl... a beautiful baby girl," Zatanna said, gently nuzzling the top of her daughter's head of fuzzy raven-black hair.

"What's her name?" Barbara asked with her own child in her arms.

Despite belief the Young child would be a boy (Sam, Jr.), but, one month ago, Barbara gave birth to a healthy girl with red hair and beautifully creamy half-white/half-black skin. Her name was Lillianna, Lillianna Barbara Zatanna Young.

"Robyn," said Dick "After my childhood nickname,"

"Robyn Mary Grayson, Roe for short," said Zatanna, smiling at her.

There was a glow about Zatanna that was shared with her daughter. Kira and Theo looked at Baby Roe and thought about how they were probably going to be the ones babysitting. Zatanna yawned and Dick took Roe from her. He ushered everyone out and placed Baby Roe in the tray/cot/thing newborns were put in at hospitals. She was so small and innocent with a magical energy around her and a good heart. Dick looked over at the sleeping Zatanna and thought about how much he loved her. He looked down at their daughter, the first biological family member he had in years, and knew... he'd do anything for their child.

* * *

**Here's some news! I'm going to write another trilogy! ****The first story will depict Roe as a 4-year-old girl with her 1-year-old little sister, Hailey Sindella Grayson, named after her father's childhood home (Haly's International Travelling Circus).**

**I'm not sure what to call it. I have two ideas:**

**1. Tales of a Baby Bird**

**2. The Magical Misadventures of Roe Grayson**

**Go to the poll on my profile and vote on which title.**

**Anyways... please review!  
**


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